Michael Pineda: Manchild

Michael Pineda.  Starting Pitcher.  Seattle Mariners.  You can read about him here.

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First off let me say that there is something undeniably sexy about finding a good prospect.  Of course the stats that they put up are great to have on your team, but the "I told you so" element far surpasses any actual gain in your league.  This is why I have made a habit of drafting young players in my fantasy baseball career.  Many people don't like the high-risk high-reward strategy of relying on young players, but hey I figure, I'm playing for first place, anything else doesn't matter, so why hedge my bets?  You gotta risk it to get the biscuit, right?  Further there can be some HUGE gains by drafting prospects well.  Finding a Mike Leake here, a Mike Stanton there can catapult you over the edge to a crown.

In addition to sharing a first name with some of the big prospects from last year (Leake, Stanton, Minor...Jeez there are a lot of Mikes in baseball.  Must be a conspiracy) Michael Pineda also takes the best of both worlds from last years prospects.  Last year none of the major prospects (Stasburg, Stanton, Chapman, etc.) got a shot at the big leagues right off the bat.  No pun intended (OK, pun a little intended).  On the other hand, a Mike Leake type guy had a shot at starting the season in the bigs, but was getting by on moxie and gusto more than overpowering stuff.  Pineda was recently named the 5th starter for the Mariners, so he will be getting an opportunity from the start.  As far as stuff goes, Pineda has a filthy heavy sinking fastball that settles around 97, arguably the best fastball in the minors.  He compliments his fastball with a strong slider and a solid changeup.  An admirable arsenal for any pitcher.  But how has it translated to his play?  Well, other than his first season in professional baseball he has had a K/9 higher than 9 at every stop of the way (in that season he had an 8.33 ratio with a 1.95 ERA.  Not too shabby).  Prior to making the jump to AAA he never had an ERA over 3 and for the most part was in the low twos.  And while his ERA at AAA was a ghastly 4.76, his FIP was a much more palatable 3.60

Basically in short, take a flier on Michael Pineda.  You have nothing to lose but a late draft pick a whole lot to gain